Pages

Monday, 20 October 2014

The Light on Spoilers, Heavy on Squee Preview of Supernatural 10x03 "Soul Survivor"

OHHHH MY GOSSSSHHH! Here we are at episode 3! Eeeeee! After last week's episode I want this episode real bad! Okay...so where are we at?

THEN

Dean is living it up as a Demon...and by that I mean, being a violent ass! Though...an incredibly hot violent ass. Mmmmm....hot ass.... Wait. Was that my out loud voice?

Sam got away from Cole...who actually let Sam get away so he could follow Sam to Dean. Sneaky!

Crowley sent Dean on a mission, but Dean killed the wrong person...OR DID HE?

Crowley and Dean had a fight. OR DID THEY?

Crowley handed information to Sam about Dean's whereabouts.

Dean mocked Sam's puppy eyes! NOOOOOOO!

Cole finally met his nemesis, Dean and got his butt kicked.

Sam captured Dean with some strategically timed Holy water and is dragging his blackeyed bro back to the bunker.

Now Crowley has the First Blade. NOT GOOD. NOT GOOD. And most definitely his plan B!

And Demon Dean was hot...and very mean to Sam...but also hot...and terrifying...and hot. Did I mention hot?

NOW

PAIN. SO. MUCH. PAIN.

Yep, we're getting down to the pointy end of the Demon Dean vs Sam battle! Let's look at the synopsis.

“Soul Survivor”

JENSEN ACKLES RETURNS TO THE HELM AS DIRECTOR — Sam (Jared Padalecki) continues his efforts to save Dean (Jensen Ackles) from the Mark of Cain. Crowley (Mark Sheppard) realises Dean’s demonic antics are starting to cause problems for him in Hell so he searches out an unlikely ally – Castiel (Misha Collins). Jensen Ackles directed the episode written by Brad Buckner & Eugenie Ross-Leming (#1001).

Eeeeee! It's the Jensen directed episode that they previewed at Comic-Con! You know the one where Sam and Dean chase each other through the halls of the bunker! This is going to be cooooool! Also, it's directed by Jensen...so double yay! I hope he tweets it! (She says, even though she will be at work gnashing her teeth!)

I'm so excited for the Demon Dean v Sam showdown. I can't wait to see them go head to head. I can't wait to see Sam cure Dean. Whether that happens this episode or not, who knows, but it's sure going that way and I can't wait!

Let's check out the promo...

So we get all our characters in this one. Crowley is in Hell sorting things out. Sidebar: the lad standing next to Crowley's throne is Mark's son! And something is also going down between Cas and Crowley. The synopsis says that Crowley turns to Cas as an unlikely ally...not the first time. And the promo pics show Crowley with what looks like a bottle of Grace!

And then we have Sam and Dean. Sam's got Dean tied down...but somehow Dean escapes and starts hunting Sam through the bunker halls. I can't wait to see these scenes! Seeing Jensen growling at the camera like that is something else. Some. Thing. Else. Dean has definitely picked a side.

Let's look at the sneak peek. Hang on to your feels...

GULP! I gasped. Gasped loudly and put my hand over my mouth, and then gasped again when Dean said all that stuff about their mum *sobs* I know he's just doing his demony best to hurt Sam, make Sam angry, possibly make Sam make a mistake...he is kinda evil now after all...and he's definitely picked the demon side of himself...but still, it's all SO SHOCKING AND HURTY!

This is going to painful as hell...but it's also going to be fantastic to watch! I mean, getting Jensen and Jared together to do scenes like this, bouncing off each other, is going to be magical. And Dean talking about his alter-ego human side like that. My God. It's so horrible and yet...I can't look away and I can't wait to see more! This show has turned me into a masochist!

(look at that face!)

Like I said in last week's review (you can read it here), I love Demon Dean. He's smart and sassy and as sexy as all hell, so sexy...soooooooo sexy... and quite frankly, terrifying. I love him...but the longer he stays around, the more Human Dean has to deal with in the aftermath. I think if he's not healed in this episode, he will be in the next. Maybe...because I'm usually wrong about stuff like this! (Though at Vancon Jensen didn't have Demon Dean hair and they were shooting the 5th ep then, so.....) But I'm betting on this ep, if for no other reason than the title alone! And I'm cool with it, because I'm looking forward to seeing how the brothers deal with what they've done. I'm interested to see how Dean deals with it...what his take is on his stint as a demon. How it's changed him. Has it changed him. Seeing as Jensen has said it's a much lighter Dean in season 10...I think we may be surprised!

If you're interested in a bit of a spoiler and some rampant speculation, I spoke with David Nykl over the weekend, who played the ill fated "Lester" in "Reichenbach" and he told me some stuff pertinent to this episode! You can read that chat here!

And here's a little nugget from Jensen at the 200th ep party about Soul Survivor!

And here's Jared talking a little about Soul Survivor

Eeeeeeee!

So...the spendiforous season 10 continues and it looks like we're in for another wild ride! Carver wasn't kidding when he said it's all very personal. Having episodes like the last two, which were both so damn good...makes you wonder why we ever need a big bad, when the stories of the characters we know and love are so juicy!

8 comments:

You know, I was pondering this the other day. I love the parallel of losing yourself to revenge, though this is as much the boys' story as their father's or Cole's. At least Cole's wife is still around to take care of the son and the son is oblivious to what Cole is doing - he's not getting dragged all over God's green earth in pursuit of his father's quest.

I wondered though if this is going to be how the story resolves itself - if Dean - who we know Cole meets up with again by the BTS picks of their fight in some Vancouvian alley - tells Cole the Winchester's story of revenge and all it has cost them, and makes Cole see that leaving his kid in pursuit of vengenance is a bad way to live. I'd like to see something like that happen. It would also be good for Dean's soul, to pay forward like that.

It'll be interesting to see why young Dean killed Cole's father. At 24, Dean was not killing human's willy nilly, we know that, so what was the father? Or was Dean there trying to catch the thing that killed the father and it just looked like he did the deed in the eyes of young Cole? Is is the kid misremembering? I'm looking forward to that story unfolding - once Dean cares about such stuff again!

I get that Sam wants to cure his brother, but we haven't seen much of what Demon Dean is capable of. Lots of booze, bar fight, karaoke, beating Cole, wasting some level 1-demons and Lester, Lester totally had it coming and while Dean was at it, he could've killed the wife too. All that, when he could i.e. take on 20 demons at once and still win.

But yeah, looks like a great episode and it's awesome that Mr. Ackles is back on the directors chair :). Can't wait to see what Sam did and if Crowley does give Cas new Grace, then perhaps Cas owes Crowley a favor, whether he likes it or not.

We all assumed that Dean having the Mark meant that he had the powers of Cain. But Cain was a demon for over a millenia and we don't know how his powers developed. Dean may not have those powers. He is obviously terrifying, but we don't know to what extent.

I guess my thing is, as much as I am loving Demon Dean and particularly watching Jensen portray him - it really is delicious and gobsmackingly good - there's only so much we can see of Demon Dean doing heinous stuff before Real Dean becomes unrecoverable. Sure, killing 20 demons he'd be totally down with - but killing a bunch of humans, no matter how scuzzy, Dean's going to have to try and live with that, and I for one do not want to spend the season with a guilt ridden Dean living in a big pile of shame and even more self hate than usual. So where do you go?

There is at least 6 weeks of Demon Dean we have not seen - as well as Sam's story looking for Dean - and we know some of that is going to be told via flashback.

I'm loving Demon Dean, but as with Soulless Sam before him, his welcome would start to wane after a while. I think Soulless Sam stayed a few eps longer than he probably needed to. He went from being awesome to a bit grating for me. I was ready to move on to the aftermath story and get the character I loved back.

We could have a couple more eps of Demon Dean, I'd be totally down with that, but I'm not sure what that would achieve unless there was some arc for Demon Dean that didn't involved completely destroying any chance of recovery of Real Dean's humanity, sanity and ability to carry on living with himself.

I think the truly interesting story is how Dean goes on living with the Mark of Cain. He now knows what the Mark can do to him - how it changed and twisted him in season 9 - how much he wants and needs the Blade, the kill - what happens if he does and doesn't use the Blade (and don't forget, Crowley has the Blade). I wonder how much that will affect him ongoing - at least short term as he tries to reclaim himself. And is he going to be truly happy to be pulled back to humanity? To leave a life where he's not weighed down by the weight of the world? Will he remember his carefree demon days with a pang of want? What will be the residual of that life?

And of course, beyond what we learn of what Sam got up to to save Dean and how the brothers equate that into their lives - what other lessons did they learn? Has seeing what each other has gone through over the years, in some degree, from the other side going to give them insight into their brother that they've never had.

I'm looking forward to those stories. The epic humaness of the Winchesters has always been the most compelling story.

And you know, having them both functioning humans, without some supernatural thing happening to one of them, is a rarity these days! It's something we've only had transiently over the last few seasons! So I'm totally looking forward to that too!

I love Demon Dean. He's so fun to watch. Once he gave into the demon in the last episode, we saw what he truly was inside and it was beautiful and horrible all in one. But I don't want to watch him going around killing everything and everyone, that would make me profoundly sad. And at this stage - or the stage we are now at with Demon Dean - there seems to be nothing left in him that would stop him doing really, really bad things!

I don't think that Dean can pulled back to humanity completely, not after this. Being possessed can leave a mark and being a demon, is a whole nother matter. After being cured, I'd except him to become a full-on Knight of Hell. I do have a theory about the MOC, though that theory could be totally wrong. Didn't Soulless Sam say something like why would he want that: to feel, that life and that he should feel guilty but he doesn't.

Thank God it's Tuesday, pig in a poke, tomorrow it's time for "Which one of us is really the monster".

Loved your review. Just wanted to say that. I was on the road so to speak so couldn't write it sooner. Anyway, I am sooooo exited and my stomach is having butterflies on what will happen. Poor Sam and poor Dean. DD is not giving him nice punches.

I'll be happy to see Dean back to his human self again, after a decent demon interlude, simply because, as you put it in your Women of Letters podcast, there's such a sad edge to him right now. He's not totally happy as a demon and --thank god for that---but Jensen has played it with such a holocaust survivor-esc tone to it.. like he's actually in hell in his head all the time, it breaks my heart. Not sure I can take much more --but of course, I'll take as much of it as they hand out. Thank you for another great article, Amy! I look forward to your insights.

Commenting Policy

sweetondean is a safe environment for sharing opinions on and the love of Supernatural in a balanced, constructive and respectful way.

To comment you will need to sign in using one of the login options or register.

You are more than welcome to comment on posts on this website and respond to other commenters. But please do so with respect and if you feel you are being misinterpreted respond with respect. Hostility is unacceptable.

Comments must adhere to the following commonsense commenting guidelines:

No attacking sweetondean or other commenters.

No rudeness.

No angry rants.

No character hate.

No writer hate.

No actor hate.

No Sam v Dean wars

No Jared v Jensen wars

Any and all of the above will be deleted without warning by the site administrator.

Follow sweetondean on Twitter

Follow sweetondean on Instagram

Jensen's Tweets

Jared's tweets

sweetondean's Tweets

Women of Letters Podcast - Episode 54 onwards!

NEW HOME of the Women of Letters Podcast! The all Aussie Supernatural podcast! Jules from Superwiki and sweetondean talk all things Show and fandom! Contact us on WOLSPN@gmail.com Listen via iTunes (click pic) or soundcloud! https://soundcloud.com/missyjack

Women of Letters Podcast Archive - episodes 1 - 53

The all Aussie Supernatural podcast! Jules from Superwiki and sweetondean talk all things Show and fandom! Contact us on WOLSPN@gmail.com